Report
Meeting at Building 9, VAMC Campus
Call to order – 9:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance
Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
Announcements – Ralph Donais, Chairman – Jerry Kyser, Vice Chairman.
Introducing Executive Director Ame Callahan with Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.
Introducing Alejandra Henriquez with Congressman Emmer’s office.
1. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations
MN Department of Veteran Affairs – Commissioner Larry Shellito – Ben Johnson
*Not present.
MN Military Affairs – Major Scott Ingalsbe, Annette Kuyper Reporting
*Major General Nash is retiring and Major General Jensen will be replacing him. There will be a ceremony on November 4th at the Cedar Street Armory to mark the transition. There will be forthcoming media coverage.
*We are keeping a close eye on the NDAA on several issues, especially on Benefits Parity, and are hopeful about the 12304 Mobilization Act. At the moment, it doesn’t look like the NDAA is going to include the Reduced Retirement Age act. We will continue to push on this.
*The Norwegian Chief of Defense was here in the last week of October at Camp Ripley. The initial planning was taking place for the Norwegian exchange that will take place next summer. This will be the 45th Norwegian-American Reciprocal Troop Exchange. 100 Norwegian troops will come to Camp Ripley and 100 American troops will go to Norway to train for two weeks.
*The Croatian Chief of Defense visited in October for a tour of Camp Ripley, celebrating 21 years of partnership between the state of MN and Croatia.
*There have been several transition meetings with General Jensen and the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program. There will be changes coming, but it will remain a leadership priority.
*Three new Yellow Ribbon Companies have been added since October’s meeting: MN West Community and Technical College, Great River Energy, and Elite Clean Energy. We have approved the action plan for Hormel Foods in Austin, MN, and they will be our 60th Yellow Ribbon Company. They will be proclaimed in December and they will also be the 10th of 17 Station 500 Companies that we are targeting to ask to join the network.
*November 2nd will be the 6th Joining Community Forces conference.
MN Assistance Council For Veterans (MACV) – Jon Lovald Reporting
*There will be a Vet-Law clinic on November 2nd in Brainerd, as well as November 14th in Minneapolis. The Mankato Stand Down will also be on November 14th.
*We have a partnership with Rock Bottom Brewery and there will be several forthcoming events there, with the proceeds going to MACV. The first will be on November 9th, a tapping of a new beer called New Beginnings that they made specifically for MACV. There will be a brewers dinner with a $20 entrance fee on December 4th.
*We have an exciting new relationship with WCCO. There will be a theme of “A Home For the Holidays” so starting after Thanksgiving, there will be several news stories about the work we are doing and our partners. There will be several telethons and we need volunteers. The dates for the telethons are November 26th and December 5th. WCCO will be hosting a holiday dinner in conjunction with the Twins at Target Field for homeless or at risk veterans on December 14th.
*We are in the process of finalizing our partnership with Project Got Your Back and Warriors Serve, and are in the process of moving into the digital age. This is a collaborative system and we are very excited about it. It is anticipated that we will be operating in Warriors Serve by the first of 2018.
Q. How will you be transporting the homeless veterans to the dinner?
A. We will be working with our partner organizations and public transportation to coordinate.
Q. How many are you anticipating?
A. There will be two serving times. Two hundred for the first section, around 120 for the second.
Q. Are you still going to have the Building 47 Christmas meal?
A. We are planning to postpone it since this event will involve the same people.
Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser Reporting
* Veterans Day on the Hill will be March 12th. There will be a media presence and we would like everyone to be ready with their issues to present concerning our legislative goals. The legislative session begins on February 20th.
*MAG will be putting together our legislative goals by November 15th, when we will meet with the Commander’s Taskforce and CVS. We want to present a united voice on numerous issues. One issue would be charitable gambling taxes with the VSOs.
*The next MAG meeting with be November 6th in room 400 in the state office building at 10:00 AM.
MN Paralyzed Veterans Of America – Todd Kemery
*Nothing to repor today.
Women Veterans Initiative – Edna Mackenzie
*Not present.
Project Got Your Back – Allison Alstrin Reporting
*Project Got Your Back is working to integrate the various veteran community services to better serve the needs of veterans. (http://vetsmn.org/about-us/). This year, we have been determining what organizations exist in MN, what they do, and how they can be connected to better serve the community. We have also been building relationships with the various groups to foster personal connections and incentivize community integration. Our national partnership is American’s Warrior Partnership. Warrior Serve is one of the tools we use to integrate our services. We are close to announcing a partnership with a local community leader that would look holistically at all the needs that our community is facing. This program is meant to meet the needs of every veteran.
*We will have more information to share about our Twin Cities development soon. Stay tuned.
*Our launch in Westover County will be the first to test out our process for bringing the community together. Thus far we have had three meetings.
*Wounded Warrior Project is hosting a lunch in Bloomington on November 8th from 12:00 to 1:00 PM for service providers.
2. Federal Agencies
Minnesota Association of County Veteran Service Officers – Robbie Robinson
*We want to have a better relationship with the local veterans groups and will provide a monthly report on our actions for the UVLC.
VA Regional Office – Kim Graves – Ron Woolery Reporting
*Most Compensation and Pension exams are not performed at the hospital, they are done under contract or outsourced . If you or your veterans are having issues, please let us know. We are working on this.
*We recently hired two additional fulltime employees in our regional loan center. This puts us over 900 full time employees. We are the 4th largest regional office in the country.
*Decision Ready claims are available, though have not received the amount of interest that we anticipated. As of today, MN has completed 144. Texas has done 116. Colorado has done 5. Currently the average days to process is 8.4 days.
*There will be an open house in the flag atrium on November 1st.
Q. What can older veterans suffering from PTSD, who have encountered roadblocks, do to receive adjudication?
A. We have to make decisions based on the medical evidence that is submitted to us. Have them speak to their CVSO to consider new or changing symptoms in order to increase the VA rating.
Q. That’s not the problem. We have veterans now, especially Vietnam era, who are retiring. These things are coming back.
A. We are hearing that a lot. They need to see a doctor and submit their medical evidence to the CVSOs.
VISN 23 – Director – Janet Murphy – Andre Kok
*There is an open house at the Minneapolis VA on November 1st, as well as at all of our regional officers in order to highlight the services we offer. This is our kickoff leading to Veterans Day on the Hill.
*The CARE act was proposed by the VA on October 16th. It reflects the secretary’s priority to make healthcare more veteran-centric.
*There will be a town hall meeting in Forest Lake on November 7th, St. Cloud on November 11th.
*We are in the testing phase of the Anne app, which allows veterans and providers to have an automated texting interface to help them remember certain health questions. This is one of our attempts to modernize our healthcare.
VAHCS Minneapolis – Director Patrick J. Kelly – Ralph Heussner Reporting
*The Bob Hope statue has been returned to the new canopy connecting the hospital to the parking garage.
*The Minneapolis VA has 13 community based outpatient clinics. Of those, 6 are contractors. One of those, Sterling Medical, operate four CBOCs. We announced in late September that the Hibbing and Eely CBOCs will become VA staffed CBOCs when the contract expires in September 2018. Any Sterling employee may apply to become a VA employee.
*The VA is mandating that all staff, volunteers, and trainees receive the flu vaccine or wear a mask.
*The VA publishes its star rating every year in October. USA Today published access to it, focusing on the one and two star facilities.
*In response to veterans wanting alternative and complementary care, later this month we will be opening the Center for Integrated Health. Yoga, mindfulness, and acupuncture will be offered.
*The holiday for Veterans Day is Friday, November 10th. The official day is November 11th. There will be a program for hospitalized veterans on the 10th.
*There will be a town hall meeting on December 2nd in Forest Lake at the YMCA. Daycare will be provided.
St. Cloud VA HCS – Director Stephen D. Black – Sharon Meschke Reporting
*St. Cloud is in a pilot with the Anne text messaging app, as well as the virtual medical room. These are both to improve access for veterans and we are excited to move forward with them.
*St. Cloud was rated a 5 star facility.
*Our open house is 1:30 to 3:30 PM on November 1st. November 5th is the Veterans Day parade, partnered with St. Cloud Metropolitan Veterans Council. There will be a Veterans Day ceremony on November 11th at the medical center in building 8 at 1:30 PM.
Ft. Snelling Cemetery – Bob Razor – John Knapp Reporting
*The Flags for Ft. Snelling group has been making on the radio about their upcoming events. They intend to buy flags for every grave in Ft. Snelling. They are not officially connected to the cemetery, but we are working together on this.
*We are participating in modernization efforts in order to advertise to the community. One new feature concerns the Presidential Memorial Certificate, which veterans receive after they are deceased. They usually take a week to arrive. Ft. Snelling will soon be one of 5 national cemeteries with the ability to present the certificate at the service. We will also be doing weekend burials once a month, cremation only. This is a test pilot to increase access. We will study the data and move forward from there.
*The Pre-Need program was exciting for the veterans, with over 35,000 applications. There is a slight backlog, but we are working to catch up.
*We are updating our automated system for records and systems.
*We are beginning to use GPS to take photos and GPS data for every headstone in national cemeteries, as well as incorporate “legacy information” on the veteran.
*Initiatives for cemeteries in Fargo and Rhinelander will open in September 2019.
*In 2017, we had 5342 burials. This is the most we have had in the last 20 years. Our cremation rate went up 5% from last year.
Vets Employment and Training Services [VETS] – David Seay
*Not present.
3. Federal Congressional Representatives
Senator Amy Klobuchar – Kurt Johnson Reporting
*Klobuchar has co-sponsored Senate Bill 66, the Retired Pay Restoration Act. All veterans receiving benefits for service-connected injuries will now be able to concurrently receive their retirement benefits.
*Klobuchar has spoken with the secretary on emergency billing practices to find a method to come into compliance. We are continuing to work on this. There will be a ruling within 90 days. Our office is monitoring the situation.
Senator Al Franken – Alex Schueller
*Not present.
1st District Representative – Tim Walz – Shawn Schoesser
*Not present.
2nd District Representative – Jason Lewis – Angela Sedlacek Reporting
*Lewis cosponsored the Veterans Opiate Abuse Prevention Act. The president’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction issued a preliminary report in July and in that report, one issue identified was the inability of state prescription drug monitoring systems to share prescription data across state lines. This legislation will help states, localities, and doctors address the opioid crisis more effectively, and more specifically with veterans.
*Our Service Academy information night was on October 9th. We have 37 applicants that will move into the interview process on December 2nd.
3rd District Representative – Erik Paulsen – Margret Cavanaugh Reporting
*Our Academy Information Night was in September. Interviews will be conducted on December 2nd.
4th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland Reporting
*We are currently reading Service Academy applications and will interview on December 2nd.
5th District Representative – Keith Ellison – Mike Siebenaler
*Not present.
6th District Representative – Tom Emmer – Abby Rime Reporting
*The Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Act of 2017 was voted on and passed. Federal employees would be protected under this piece of legislature.
*HR 1133, the Veterans Transplant Coverage Act, is under consideration. Previously, family members have wanted to be living donors for veteran family members, and the VA would not cover the care for the non-veteran. This piece of legislation would fix that.
*HR 2601 the Victor Act, Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organ and Recover, is under consideration. This act would allow veterans who are 100% disabled and live more than 100 miles away from a VA medical center to receive VA community care through a program and attend a facility in their area that could perform the transplant.
*HR 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, is under consideration. This would extend the presumption of exposure to Agent Orange to veterans who served in the Blue Water Navy.
*HR 1900, which would designate the Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus as the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. This will be going through the House committee in the next few days.
7th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Meg Louwagie Reporting
*Not present.
8th District Representative – Rick Nolan – Rick Olseen Reporting
*Not present.
4. Announcements
*Conversations about modernization within the VA are ongoing.
5. Meeting in Recess for five minutes
Next meeting December 6, 2017.
Treasurer’s Report as of 1 November 2017
Balance as of 1 October 2017 $3,251.45
Deposits for October 2017 $0.00
Expenses for October 2017
Transcription Expense ($120.00)
Balance as of 1 November 1, 2017 $3,131.45
Submitted by Donald Rask, Treasurer UVLC
End of Report